Troy businessman named to FBI Citizens Academy

Leon LaBrecque on a phone call as Anne Whipple and Matt Lagos look on in their Troy office. LaBrecque, a Troy businessman, was recently chosen for the FBI Citizen's Academy. Monday, May 20, 2013. The Oakland Press/TIM THOMPSON

Call the FBI's Troy field office to ask about the bureau's 2013 Citizens Academy, and most who answer the phone will say they're not at liberty to discuss the matter.

Leon LaBrecque, a Troy-based investment advisor, has recently been chosen to attend this year's FBI Citizens Academy, in what is the program's sixteenth year. He's gained clearance, and is authorized to speak.

"The purpose of the FBI Citizens Academy is to afford community leaders an inside look at the FBI," said Leon LaBrecque, founder of investment firm LJPR, which manages more than $540 million in assets.

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Held at the FBI's field office in Detroit, the academy began in early May, and will run through July 3. LaBrecque is joined by only 25 other prominent business, civic and religious leaders who have been chosen for the class.

The program -- an eight-week course in a classroom setting -- focuses on how agents investigate certain types of crimes, such as health care fraud and white-collar crime, among several other types. Graduates will then be able to return to their communities and educate others about the mission of the bureau, said FBI spokesman Simon Shaykhet.

"We're best served when people understand the bureau's role," Shaykhet said Monday.

But the FBI, as a whole, has historically made it a mission statement to muddle what, exactly, that role is.

"I always thought of (the FBI) from the J. Edgar Hoover days," said Rochester Hills resident LaBrecque, noting the organization's beginnings in the early 1900s. "I honestly thought of them as a secret-type arrangement. ... they had a variety of missions -- larger-scale missions, the early days going after gangsters, terrorists and Nazis -- take the big picture, and really, they're a domestic intelligence agency as well as a law enforcement agency."

The culture of secrecy surrounding the bureau hit home for LaBrecque the moment he walked in the door for his first class. Instructors had all participants' pictures posted up on a bulletin board.

"One of the people in the class asked how they got the pictures," LaBrecque said. "The instructor answered: 'We're the FBI.'"

In another life, LaBrecque said he would've joined the law enforcement community. He has deep ties: He once taught a martial arts class in Madison Heights attended by members of local law enforcement agencies. Now, he manages retirement plans for police and fire departments across the state.

The financial advisor heard about the program from a client, a woman who was a sport shooting enthusiast and very active in the community.

"She said, 'You would love this,'" said LaBrecque, who was later nominated by his client, which is one of the only ways to get access to the program. "In the first couple of weeks, I've come back each time and said, 'These are the people I want protecting me.'"

For more than 15 years, FBI Citizens Academies across the nation have given more than 10,000 community leaders a personal look at the FBI, and have changed plenty of preconceived opinions, according to the website detailing the program.

A press release detailing LaBrecque appointment to the academy was vague as to what, in detail, the course entailed.

"It's unclear because that's how they wanted it," said Josephine Dries, spokeswoman for LaBrecque and press agent for Troy-based Insert Catchy Headlines.

One of the biggest things that caught Dries' attention when she was learning about the academy was that the FBI makes "class participants aware of things that normal citizens might not be aware of."

Getting the message out about the types of cases the FBI works, along with dispelling certain misunderstandings about the law enforcement branch of the government is the main goal, said the FBI's Shaykhet.

That's important because "we want our citizens to feel comfortable reaching out to the FBI if they feel threatened in the case of a civil rights violation, a violent crime or to report public corruption, as an example," he said.

A timely threat that LaBrecque said he's gained a good understanding of in his first few classes is cyberterrorism.

In March, customers of finance giants American Express and JPMorgan Chase were confused when they tried to access their online credit card accounts and, instead of seeing a home page, saw blank computer screens. In South Korea, a host of more than 30,000 computers at banks and television networks were also rendered unusable. All of these were cyberterrorism attacks, said authorities.

"Things I've been hearing about cybercrime have precipitated to me being more cautious and warning my clients and colleagues, as well," said LaBrecque. "I've already communicated some of those real life issues."

Shaykhet added that he wanted to stay away from talking about specific cases past graduates of the program have assisted authorities with.

Along with learning about crimes perpetrated in the business community, students of the program will have a chance to get out on the firing range, will learn how the FBI provides assistance to local law enforcement and will hear accounts of espionage and hate crimes.

A testimonial on the FBI's Citizens Academy site recounts Phoenix, Ariz. resident Chuck Matthews' favorite part of the program. Matthews especially enjoyed "investigating a mock kidnapping case. We got to go out into the field and work on a simulated crime scene under the guidance of the Evidence Response Team and several agents. We collected and processed evidence ... Interviewed likely suspects ... and after analyzing the data, determined the likely perpetrator."